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HAND 
BOOK 

ConneSiicut 
Agriculture 




^ Prepared by the Secre- 
tary and published by the 
Board of Agriculture 

I Q O .1 




HANDBOOK of 
Connefticut Agriculture 



PREPARED "BY THE SECRETARY AND PUBLISHED BY 
THE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE Nineteen Hnndred and One 



T. S. GOLD, Secretary 



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Printed by THE CASE, LOCKWOOD & BRAINARD CO., Hartford, Conn. 

1901 






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CAPITOL, HARTFORD. 



/?■;;/. //. Taylor. 



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II 'm. H. Taylor. 



Hon. GEORGE P. McLEAN, 
Governor o/ Connecticut. 




THEODORE SEDGWICK GOLD, 
Secretary o/ Connecticut Board o_f Agriculture. 



State of Conned:icut 



BOARD OF AGRICULTURE 



Organized iS65 Re-organized 1897 



Gov. GEORGE P. McLEAN, President c-x officio 



Edwin G. Seeley, 
T. S. Gold, 
Charles A. Tho.mpso 
Dr. E. II. Jenkins, 
Dr. W. C. Sturgis, 
Prof. B. F. KooNS, 
N. S. Platt, 



Roxbiiry, 

West Cornwal 

Melrose, 

New Haven, 

New Haven, 

Storrs, 

New Haven, 
Fred. Doolittle, \ 
Seaman Mead, I Auditors 

E JUDSON Miner, \ 



Vice-President 

Secretary 

Treasurer 

Cliemist 

Botanist 

Entomologist 

Pomologist 



Members Appointed by the General Assembly 

Edmund Halladav, Suffield, Hartford County 
Fred'k Doolittle, Ciieshire, New Haven County 
E. Judson Miner, Bozrah, New London County 
Seaman Mead, Greenwich, Fairfield County 
Nathaniel G. Williams, Brooklyn, Windham County 
Edwin G. Seelev, Roxbury, Litchfield County 
Edisert D. Hammond, Cromwell, Middlesex County 
Charles A. Thompson, Melrose, Tolland County 



Members Appointed by the Governor and the Senate 

Charles L. Tuttle, Hartford 
James F. Brown, North Stonington 
Charles E. Chapman, Westbrook 
Iverson C. Fanton, Westport 



f^ f^ Handbook of f^f^ 
ConneSlicut Agriculture 



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HE Board receives from the State ^3,500 
annually, also the State prints 5,000 
copies of Annual Report, not exceed- 
ing 350 pages. 

The Board expends the State bounty 
in payment of salaries of secretary and 
treasurer, paying traveling expenses, in 
holding conventions or institutes, extra printing, and other 
expenses as required for the agricultural interests of the 
State. This current year twelve hundred dollars of this fund 
is expended in collection of exhibit for Buffalo and in extra 
printing. 

Our thanks are due to Hon. Leverett Brainard for the 
exhibition at Buffalo of a full set to date of Reports of 
the Board, bound for his own library, and donated to the 
Agricultural College of Connecticut. 

By the authority of the Connecticut Board of Agriculture, 
as secretary, I have been authorized to publish an Illustrated 
Handbook of Connecticut Agriculture. The task then 
seemed easy, as it was a familiar subject to me, but on study 
the material demands encyclopedic space, rather than the 
limited extent of a Handbook. 

Credit is given and thanks are due to those who have fur 
nished many of the illustrations and also descriptions of 
matters of interest. Otherwise the material is gathered from 
memory and historical records of common circulation. 

Dear reader, kindly receive my well meant efforts, and 
overlook the omission of the thousand and one familiar scenes 



HANDBOOK OF CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURE. g, 

and events which are so clear to the mind and eye of every 
son and daughter of Connecticut, wherever they have wan- 
dered from the old home, and alike to the children and grand- 
children, who ha\'e heard the tale on their mother's lap — 
memories that can never be effaced. To such is this effort 
dedicated, that the memory of the past may be the inspiration 
of the future, that the industry of the fathers and mothers, 





BLINN MOUNTAIN, DAMON HOUSATONIC, WEST ToRXWALL. 



M 

C. A', i'. i?. ^. 



their frugality, patience, heroism, and patriotism, supported 
by a living faith in a controlling Pro\-idence, leading to an 
appreciation of the benefits of education, not only as a means 
of mental and moral growth, but as providing for material 
wants, and the love of liberty and power to obtain and main- 
tain it. No wild growth has sprung from these seeds of New 
England life, but the whole round world now enjoys a share 
in the harvest. 

Connecticut soil, climate, location, geography, natural 



HANDBOOK OF CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURE. 



I I 



productions, industries, education, cliaracteristics, can only 
receive each a single paragraph in this Handbook of Con- 
necticut Agriculture, but there is such a natural inter- 
dependence between them all, with a reflex influence each 
upon every other that they cannot be omitted even if confined 
to a single line. 

Connecticut is bounded on the south by Long Island 




NAM WOLF-DEN, POM FRET. 



Sound, the noblest water way on the American coast, giving 
direct communication with New York, Providence, and the 
whole world beyond. Her daring navigators have hunted the 
whale, the grandest game on earth, to the Arctic regions, and 
have extended trade to the islands in the tropics, bringing 
back the treasures of sea and land. 

The Connecticut river, the gem of New England, sepa- 
rating two states and intersecting two others, — 

"No watery glades through richer valleys shine, 
Nor drinks the sea, a lovelier wave than thine." 



12 



HANDBOOK OF CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURE. 



The Housatonic, the river of the mountains, rising" in the 
Berkshire Hills, meets the Sound at Stratford. The Thames, 
with the best harbor on the New England coast, is navigable 
to Norwich. These and their tributaries, fed bv mountain 




ON THE NAUGATUCK 



springs and lakes, furnish abundant water power, while the 
whole shore of the Sound abounds in oysters, clams, lobsters, 
etc., that make seaside resorts accessible to all. 

Population of State, census of 1900, 908,355, an increase 
of 21.7 per cent, in ten years. 

The surface of the State is varied — hills and valleys, salt 
meadows on the coast, with intervales on borders of streams. 
Bear Mountain in Salisbury in the northwest corner of the 
State is 2,355 feet high, and there are many lakes in the 
State more than 1,000 feet above sea level. 








^ 






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J . HANDBOOK OF CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURE. 

The soil, made up by the attrition and decay of granite, 
Hmestone, trap, and sandstone, furnishes the mineral elements 
needed for the growth of plants, held in keeping for future 
ages, and yielding their stores of locked-up wealth to the 
skill and industry of man. 

With wood and stone for building and water power every- 
where abundant, manufactures, first for home consumption, 
then for the world's use, have been an important feature in 
the progress of the State. The iron mines of Salisbury and 
other towns in Litchfield county, with furnaces and forges, 
even before the Revolution, were making the best iron in the 
country, furnishing much needed supplies of war material — a 
reputation still sustained. 

Almost all mineral substances exist in the State, but so 
far only iron, marble, and limestone, other stones and clays, 
have become of commercial importance. 

In naming the good things about Connecticut it would be 
unpardonable to omit the shad in referring to the " harvest of 
the sea," for everybody ought to know that the best shad 
always return to their Connecticut home. The success of 
the Fish commission in breeding this rover of the sea to main- 
tain its abundance is very satisfactory. 

Climate. Though somebody is always complaining of the 
weather, where will you find a more varied and healthful 
climate than in Connecticut.^ Sheltered from the blasts of 
the Atlantic by. Long Island and Cape Cod, by the mountain 
forests of Vermont and the Adirondacks from the Arctic waves, 
while we receive all the tonic we can bear, we share also in 
the kindly influence of the Gulf Stream and the zephyrs that 
sweep with more or less power through the pines of the 
south. If one wants wind, go to our hill tops ; if shelter, 
seek some nook protected by forest covered hills and a grove 
of white pine — ; its sighs will soothe while the roar of the storm 
on the hills marks the tempest which does not reach your 
arcadian retreat. One of our mountain brooks with its erentle 
murmur completes the scene, and it needs no landscape 
gardener to improve upon nature. 



i6 



HANDBOOK OF CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURE. 



Flax, wool, and leather, home grown and literally home 
manufactured, served for clothing till the last century when 
factories sprang up, and cotton supplanted flax, and silk was 
added to our home grown products — then the town of Mans- 
field was celebrated for raising silkworms. The roadside 
and many fields were ])lanted with the white mulberry, and 
this became the chief industry of the town ; some of these 
trees remain as a testimony to the patience and skill of those 




MILFORD MEMORIAL liRIDOE. 



early days. The war of 1812 gave great impetus to silk pro- 
duction, and fancy work was laid aside even in our cities to 
give place to this attractive industry, the production and 
manufacture of silk. In my boyhood I obtained eggs 
from where a few were still reared as a productive industry, 
and I raised the cocoons from which a member of my family, 
familiar with the work, pre])ared a quantity of nice sewing silk. 
The city boy sees wheels and engines and hammers that 
make things, the country boy sees what God makes from the 
seed, the bud and the flower; "first the blade, then the ear, 
and then the full corn in the ear." 



i8 



HANDBOOK OF CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURE. 



As:ncultiire in Connecticut has been directed in its loca- 
tion partly by soil and climate, but more especially by some 
accidental circumstances. 

Thus tobacco finds a congenial soil in the valleys of the 
Connecticut and Housatonic rivers and their tributaries. 
Litchfield and Windham have led in the dairy, while the 
growth of cities and manufacturing villages has made demand 
not only for the products of agriculture that pertain to them, 





LAKE WANGUM, NORFOLK'S WATER SUPPLY. 



( ■. -\ . /■ . A', A', 



but also for a supply of food that does not allow of trans- 
portation. 

In manufactures, Litchfield county leads in iron, Fairfield 
county in hats, the Naugatuck valley in brass and copper. 
Eastern Connecticut took cotton, for was it not near Rhode 
Island.'' 

'' Did you ever go to I'awtucket ? 
Lord, what a racket, 
' Fifty crabs in a bucket." 

These and other manufactures of wool, rubber, tools, and 
machinery have been scattered every where, water power being 
the chief element in controlling location till steam power has 



-,0 HANDBOOK OF CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURE. 

wrought great changes. It has been said that we " not only 
make everything in Connecticut, but we make the tools and 
machines to make it with." 

We cannot in this brief sketch notice everything of im- 
portance, nor in our illustrations justly balance and select all 
those scenes of the most interest, much less give the history 
which so largely adds interest to them, but we give samples 
only, and the traveler will find that every half mile will give 
him a change of view of mountain, valley, lake or river, 
orchard or meadow, village spire, farm house or walls of a 
factory where the hum of machinery marks a busy hive. 

Agriculture has to do with and calls to its aid all the 
powers of nature and art ; all sciences contribute to its 
success. 

Every condition requires different treatment, and so if the 
reader does not find everything to his taste, remember that 
tastes differ, even if the matter is no better arranged than 
were the divisions on our Connecticut farms into meadow, 
plowland, pasture, and woodland ; it is because they " come so 
by nature" and we can't help it. Diversity of material does 
not allow of classification except with great repetition. 



HANDBOOK OF CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURE. 2 1 



THE CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT 
STATION. 

Board of Control. — His Excellency, the Governor, President ; T. S. Gold, 
Vice-President, West Cornwall ; E. H. Jenkins, Director ; Wm. H. Brewer, 
Secretary and Treasurer ; W. O. Atwater, Middletown ; B. W. Collins, Meri- 
den ; Jas. H. Webb, Hamden ; Edwin Hoyt, New Canaan. 

Director. — E. H. Jenkins. 

Advising and Consulting Chemist. — S. W. Johnson. 

Chemists. — A. L. Winton, T. B. Osborne, A. W. Ogden, L F. Harris, 
M. C. Williams. 

Botanist. — W. C. Sturgis. 

Horticulturist. — • W. E. Britton. 

In Charge of Work on Waste Land. — Walter Mulford. 

Grass Gardener. — J. B. Olcott. 

Clerk and Librarian. — Miss V. E. Cole. 

Assistant Clerk. — Miss L. M. Brautlecht. 

In Charge of Buildings and Grounds. — C. J. Rice. 

Laboratory Helpers. — Hugo Lange, William Pokrob. 

HISTORY. 

Connecticut was the first State in America to establish an 
agricultural experiment station as a separate institution. A 
law was enacted on July 20, 1875, appropriating $2,800 to 
Wesleyan University at Middletown, " $700 per quarter for 
two years," beginning October i, 1875, "to be used in em- 
ploying competent scientific men to carry on the appropriate 
work of such a station." The university tendered free Use of 
its laboratories and other facilities, and Mr. Orange Judd, a 
graduate and patron of the university, many years editor of 
the American Agriculturist, contr buted $1,000 toward the 
payment of expenses. Prof. W, O. Atwater was made 
director. 

Before the expiration of the two years fixed for the dura- 
tion of this station, the legislature established its successor 
as an independent and permanent institution of the State, — 
"the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station," — by an 
act which became a law March 21, 1877, and appropriated 
$5,000 annually for its support. 

This station, by vote of its Board of Control, was opened 
July I, 1877, at New Haven, with Prof. S. W. Johnson as 



22 HANDBOOK OF CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURE. 

director, in rooms placed at its disposal and fitted up for its 
use by the authorities of the Shefifield Scientific School of 
Yale College. The station occupied these quarters, rent free, 
for six years. In 1882 the annual appropriation was raised 
to $7,000, and a special appropriation of $25,000 was granted 
"for the purpose of buying a suitable lot and erecting thereon 
buildings and equipping the same for the permanent use of 
the station." The station then bought a piece of land of 
about five acres, which had on it a commodious house and a 
barn, and added a chemical laboratory. This place is still 
occupied by the station. 

In May, 1887, the Connecticut legislature accepted the 
provisions of the act of Congress, appropriating to each State 
annually the sum of 1^15,000 for experimental work, and des- 
ignated the board of control of this station to receive and ex- 
pend one-half of this appropriation. In the same year a bio- 
logical laboratory was built and equipped. In 1884 the an- 
nual State appropriation was made $8,000 and so continued 
until 1895, when it was raised to $12,500. In the latter year 
a special appropriation of $2,500 was given for better equip- 
ping the laboratories and for other specified purposes. 

In 1877 the staff consisted of the director and two chem- 
ists. The vice-director, Dr. E. H. Jenkins, was appointed in 
1883. In 1888 a botani.st was added to the staff, and a ste- 
nographer-clerk was employed. In 1894 a horticulturist was 
engaged, and from time to time laboratory helpers, sampling 
agents, and a night watchman have been added to the work- 
ing force. After twenty-three years of continuous service, 
Professor Johnson retired from the directorship January i, 
1900, but retains his connection with the station as advis- 
ing chemist. The vice-director. Dr. E. H. Jenkins, was ap- 
pointed his successor. 

EQUIPMENT. 

The station buildings comprise an office building, chemi- 
cal laboratory, biological laboratory, with three greenhouses at- 



HANDBOOK OF CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURE. 



23 



tached, glass vegetation house for pot cultures in the warmer 
seasons, barn, and ice-house. The office building is a three- 
story, brick-filled frame house, containing the station offices 
and library and the dwelling of the director. It has two ad- 
ditions, each two stories high, which are the quarters of the 
superintendent of buildings and grounds. In the basement 
of the main building are the coal bunkers and a tubular boiler, 
from which the house, laboratories, and greenhouses are 
heated. The chemical laboratory is a two-story brick struc- 
ture. On the first floor is the main laboratory, a sampling- 
room fitted with mills for grinding samples, and storage 
rooms adjoining. On the second floor are two laboratories 
and two small storage rooms. In the basement are two 
storerooms and various pieces of apparatus. The biological 
laboratory is a two-story frame house, in which the botanical, 
horticultural, and entomological divisions are accommodated. 
The basement contains a dark room for photography and a 
storage room. On the main floor are two workrooms, and 
on the second floor a museum. Connected with this build- 
ing are a small plant-house for the use of the mycologist, a 
wooden frame greenhouse, and an iron frame greenhouse with 
a potting house and workroom attached, all heated by steam. 
These are devoted wholly to experimental work. 

The station now owns about six acres of land, on which 
the buildings are situated. It keeps no live-stock for experi- 
mental purposes. 

In the botanical division is an herbarium containing over 
5,000 specimens of phaenogams and vascular cryptogams, 
and a number of mycological exsiccati. There are two col- 
lections of seeds of economic importance. The cabinet of 
insects contains over 3,000 specimens. There are also collec- 
tions of minerals, rocks, and soils, fertilizers and fertilizer 
chemicals, native phosphates and potassic minerals, pure and 
adulterated food products, and charts, diagrams, tables, and 
lantern slides for illustrating addresses on agricultural subjects. 

The station has sets of the more important agricultural, 



^. HANDBOOK OF CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURE. 

horticultural, chemical, physiological, and botanical journals 
and the essential books of reference on these subjects, num- 
bering over 2,000 bound volumes, exclusive of pamphlets and 
station publications. Some of the books are cjuite rare and 
costly. The private libraries of the director, advising chem- 
ist, and botanist contain sets of other journals and many older 
works of reference, which, taken with the station library, very 
fully represent the useful literature of agriculture and the re- 
lated natural sciences. While the station has no official or 
business connection with Yale University, the university 
library, numbering 266,000 volumes and 100,000 pamphlets ; 
the special technical library of the Sheffield Scientific School, 
of about 5,000 volumes, and the special chemical libraries of 
the same school and of the other university laboratories are 
readily accessible to members 6i the station staff. The pri- 
vate libraries of many specialists connected with Yale Uni- 
versity can also be consulted. 

LINES OF WORK. 

The station has, strictly speaking, no control duties. It 
is required to examine and report upon the composition of 
foods and fertilizers, but no prosecutions for violations of the 
laws are made by the station or its officers. The station is 
authorized to take samples of any lot or package of commer- 
cial fertilizer which may be in the possession of any dealer, 
and is required by statute to analyze annually at least one 
sample of every brand of commercial fertilizers sold in the 
State, to publish in its reports the results of such analyses, 
and to send at least two copies of its bulletins to every post- 
office in the State. 

The station is required by statute " at such times and 
places and to such extent as it may determine " to examine 
food products, which are defined by the statute as " anything 
used as food or drink by men, horses, or cattle." Any cases 
of adulteration must be reported to the dairy commissioner, 
who is charged with bringing prosecutions. The station 



HANDBOOK OF CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURE. 2< 

must make an annual report of this work to the governor, not 
to exceed 400 pages. 

The station is also authorized by statute to collect sam- 
ples of concentrated feeding stuffs, and is required to cause 
at least one sample of each brand of feeding stuff collected 
to be analyzed, so far as to determine crude protein and fat, 
and annually to publish these analyses, with such additional 
information in relation to their composition, character, and 
use as may seem important. 

Though not required by law, the station does all the 
chemical work requested by the State dairy commissioner, 
consisting chiefly of the analysis of molasses, butter, and vin- 
egar, and furnishes expert evidence in court when needed by 
the commissioner. 

The total number of samples of materials that have been 
examined in the chemical laboratory amounts to 24,630. 

Connecticut includes within its boundaries 22,264 acres of 
salt marsh and about 1,000 acres of brackish marsh, of which 
nearly one-fourth lie in the neighborhood of New Haven. In 
1889 the station made an extended study of the botanical and 
chemical composition of the forage that grows on these 
marsh lands. Chemical analyses have also been made for 
the purpose of learning something of the agricultural value of 
swamp muck or peat, soils, marine mud, seaweeds, lime- 
stones, maize raised in Connecticut, hay, and a few other 
substances. 

The station began the cultivation of grasses in 1886. Mr. 
J. B. Olcott was employed to collect roots of any species or 
variety of grass that appeared useful or promising. From 
these and from seeds procured from various sources the sta- 
tion garden had, in 1887, 650 sods and 219 drills or plats 
raised from seed, all distinct in immediate origin and mostly 
distinct in appearance. With the idea that grasses, like fruit 
trees, have developed into many different varieties, Mr. Ol- 
cott has made six journeys of exploration with the sole pur- 
pose of collecting cultivated grass plants and seeds whose 



26 



HANDBOOK OF CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURE. 



repute or appearance would indicate special value for use in 
pastures, meadows, or lawns. He thus visited some of the 
best grazing districts of Connecticut and Rhode Island, Penn- 
sylvania, various Southern, Central, and Pacific States, Great 
Britain, Denmark, Austria, Switzerland, France, Hawaii, and 
Australia, and through correspondents received sods from 
other States and countries. It being impossible to care for 
these collections at the station, where the soil is not adapted 
to grass, Mr. Olcott undertook to transplant the most prom- 
ising grasses to favorable ground on his farm, near South Man- 
chester. Since 1890 Mr. Olcott has devoted himself untiring- 
ly to the care of the South Manchester grass garden of about 
two acres area, where he has had growing in pure cultures 
3,022 distinct grass plats, comprising 600 sods from station 
grounds at New Haven, 793 sods collected in the United 
States, 1,005 fi'om Europe, 125 from Australia and the Ha- 
waiian Islands, 250 miscellaneous, and 250 plats from trade 
seeds. Of these 1,500 are now under observation and about 
the same number have been destroyed as inferior or unfit for 
culture. 

An important investigation has been the study of the 
vegetable proteids, on which Dr. Osborne, with an assistant, 
has been continuously engaged for eight years. Subjects of 
this investigation have been mostly seeds. These results, 
though mostly technical, have already found application in 
the manufacture of flour. 

The organism causing the scab of potatoes {Oospora 
scabies') was isolated and described at this station by Dr. 
Roland Thaxter. A new species of Phytophthora has been 
described, which has caused extensive damage to Lima beans. 
The methods of infection have been studied and preventive 
measures suggested. A considerable number of new species 
of fungi of less economic importance have also been de- 
scribed. 

The nature and cause of "pole burn," a very destructive 
disease to which leaf tobacco is liable while curing, and its 



HANDBOOK OF CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURE. 27 

prevention by the use of suitable devices for ventilating by 
means of artificial heat, have been studied. Studies on the 
curing and fermentation of wrapper-leaf tobacco are now in 
progress. 

Investigations are in progress with the object of determin- 
ing the cause of " calico," a destructive disease of growing 
tobacco. It has been ascertained that the disease is purely 
physiological, and experiments indicate that the use of lime 
upon soils where " calico " is liable to occur is attended with 
good results. 

The effect of shading growing tobacco plants has also 
been under trial, and some interesting and possibly important 
results with respect to the texture of the leaf have been ob- 
tained. 

Experiments with fertilizers in the culture of carnations 
have been a prominent line of work in the horticultural di- 
vision. 

For several years the disease known as onion smut, due to 
the fungus Urocystis ccpulae, which seriously threatens onion 
growing in Connecticut, has been a subject of study. In 
1889 Dr. Thaxter found that when onion seed was sown in 
soil that has been impregnated with Urocystis ccpulae, the 
young plants were infected underground, and if the fungus 
did not become manifest in them shortly after they appeared 
above the soil, they were not subsequently affected by it. Dr. 
Thaxter noted that " the fact of subterranean infection is 
further confirmed by the absence of smut on sets and seed 
onions, as well as on transplanted seedlings." Dr. Sturgis 
has more recently shown that when onion seed is sprouted in 
clean soil in hotbeds, and the seedlings transplanted into 
smutty land, the onions entirely escape infection. 

Extensive studies have been made on the chemical com- 
position of maize as affected by fertilizers and by open and 
close planting. For six years the availability of various 
forms of nitrogen has been studied in a large number of pot 
cultures, with various soils, fertilizers, and conditions. 



23 HANDBOOK OF CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURE. 

This station has from the first done much work in im- 
proving laboratory methods, operations, and apparatus. 
Among the pieces of apparatus devised by the station workers 
which have proved satisfactory are a fat extractor, a hydrogen 
generator, gas dessicator, apparatus for drying in hydrogen, 
aHquotimeter, apparatus for determining nitrogen by the 
absolute and by the Kjeldahl methods, an oven for drying 
large samples (e. g., maize stalks, coarse grasses, or other 
forage plants), and apparatus for determining nitric acid (mod- 
ification of Schulze-Tiemann apparatus). 

DISSEMINATION OF INFORMATION. 

The station has issued 133 bulletins and 24 annual re- 
ports. The publication of the annual report, not to exceed 400 
pages, is done at State expense. It contains a full account 
of all the work done by the station during the year and in- 
cludes the matter published in bulletins. The edition pub- 
lished at public expense is now limited by law to 7,000 copies. 
The station has frequently printed large numbers of additional 
copies to meet the demand. 

Prof. S. W. Johnson is the author of "Essays on Peat, 
Muck, and Commercial Manures," "Peat and Its Uses as 
Fertilizer and Fuel," "How Crops Grow," and "How Crops 
F'eed," which were written previous to the establishment of 
the station. The two books last named have been translated 
into French, German, Swedish, Russian, and Japanese, and 
have been used as text-books. "How Crops Grow " was re- 
printed in England and translated into Italian, and a revised 
edition was issued in New York in 1891. Dr. H. P. Armsby, 
while on the staff of this station, wrote his " Manual of Cattle 
P'eeding." Numerous papers have from time to time been 
published in scientific journals by members of the station 
staff. Messrs. Jenkins and Winton made a "Compilation of 
Analyses of American Feeding Stuffs" that was published as 
a bulletin of the Office of Experiment Stations. 

The mailing lists are very large and constantly under re- 



HANDBOOK OF CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURE. 30 

vision. The station correspondence is over 3,500 letters a 
year. The members of the station staff are frequently called 
upon for papers or addresses before the annual meeting of the 
State Board of Agriculture, the Pomological Society, and the 
Dairymen's Association, and at farmers' institutes, as well as 
meetings of the county and subordinate granges. 
» 

GENERAL RESULT.S OF WORK. 

The Connecticut State Station has been a leader in the 
establishment of fertilizer inspection in this country and in 
investigations regarding the use of fertilizers and their effect 
on the composition of the crop. The benefits of this work 
have been very great and their influence has been widely ex- 
tended. As a result of the constant supervision of the fertil- 
izer market, fraudulent fertilizers have long been practically 
excluded from the State. Although food inspection has been 
in operation for only four years, a decided decrease in the 
extent of adulterations is already noticed. 

Many of the co-operative experiments undertaken by this 
station have been highly successful, and in this as well as in 
other ways, much has been done to educate practical cultiva- 
tors of the soil in matters pertaining to the application of 
chemistry and other sciences to agriculture. 

In recent years the investigations on tobacco have helped 
to enable Connecticut growers to improve the quality, and 
hence maintain a relatively high price for their wrapper-leaf 
tobacco. 

Through information and instruction given in its publica- 
tions, and more particularly by the personal supervision of 
the station staff and practical demonstrations made in various 
parts of the State, the use of insecticides and fungicides, and 
spraying with improved machinery, were first introduced into 
Connecticut, to the very great benefit of the fruit and 
vegetable industries. 

The larger nurseries of the State are annually inspected 
by station officials for injurious insects or fungus pests. On 



30 



HANDBOOK OF CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURE. 



being notified of the appearance of any sucli pest in any part 
of the State, a member of the staff at once visits the place to 
give what lielp is possible. 

Largely through this station, the very crude and unfair 
methods of payment for milk and cream delivered by farmers 
to creameries in the State have been replaced by a rational 
system based on the Babcock test. 

Dr. E. H. Jenkins, Director. 

THE CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE, STORRS, 

CONN. 

In education as connected with agriculture shall we begin 
with the common school and Webster's spelling book, in 
which probably more persons have "learned their letters " 
than in any other book in the world, or with " Yale Univer- 




THE RUDE BOY AND THE FARMER. 
Noah Webster^ s Spelling Book. 



sity,"j. the crowning glory of the State in all learning, and 
from the earliest days a "patron of husbandry".'' But space 
forbids to take up the thread of history and show how they 
blend with agriculture — controlling and controlled by it. 

From Yale, Wesleyan, and Trinity streams of light have 
permeated all society, and agriculture has shared the benign 
inliuence. The new movement for more practical agricultural 




HENRY BARNARD, LL.D., 



Conn. Mojithly. 



The veteran educator, widely known for his work for common schools. He died July 5, igoo, in 
the house in which he was born, 89 years ago. 



,2 HANDBOOK OF CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURE. 

education, taking form in agricultural colleges and experiment 
stations, will not detract from their power and influence, but 
as co-laborers in educating and elevating the world, are wel- 
comed in the wide field where man works with body, mind, 
and soul — in the great harvests of the world 

In answer to a long felt want the Storrs Agricultural 
School at Mansfield was organized in 1881. Messrs. Charles 
and Augustus Storrs gave a farm of 170 acres with buildings 
and $6,000 for equipment, to give scientific and practical edu- 
cation for farm life. 

By act of the General Assembly in 1883 this became the 
Storrs Agricultural College with co-education. The funds 
derived from the National Government were appropriated to 
the college. In 1899 the name was changed to the Connec- 
ticut Agricultural College. 

The annual report and catalogue gives in full, courses of 
study and equipment. 

Trustees. — His Excellency the Governor, George P. Mchtan, President 
ex officio ; Hon. W. E. Simonds, Hartford, Vice-President; T. S. Gold, West 
Cornwall ; W. D. Holman, West Willington, Treasurer; S. O. Bowen, East- 
ford ; Hon. E. S. Henry, Rockville ; Geo. A. Hopson, Wallingford, Secretary: 
M. M. Frisbie, Southington ; E. Halladay, Suffield ; E H. Jenkins, Ph.D., 
New Haven. 

FACULTY AND IN.STRUCTORS. 

George W. Flint, A.M., President, Professor of English and Mathe 
matics. 

Benjamin F. Koons, Ph.D., Professor of Zoology, Geology, and Ento- 
mology. 

Charles S. Phelps, B.S., Professor of Agricultural Science. 

Alfred G. Gulley, M.S., Professor of Horticultural Science. 

RuFUS W. Stimson, M.A., B.D., Professor of Rhetoric, Ethics, Elocu- 
tion, and English Literature. 

Nelson S. Mayo, M.S., D.V.M., Professor of Anatomy, I'hysiolog)', and 
Veterinary Science. 

Charles A. Wheeler, A.B., Professor of Mathematics, History, and 
Free- Hand Drawing. 

Henry R. Monteith, A.B., Professor of English, History, Civics, Po- 
litical Economy, and Mathematics. 

Campkell E. Waters, Ph.D., Professor of Chemistry and Physics. 

Henry S. Patterson (Master Mechanic), Professor of Mechanics and 
Mechanical Drawing. 

Marcia G. Greenough, A.B., Ph.B., Professor of Domestic Economy. 



HANDBOOK OF CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURE. -- 

Charles L. Beach, B.S., Assistant Professor of Dairying and Cattle 
Breeding. 

Henry A. Ballou, B.S., Assistant Professor of Forestry, Botany, and 
Military Science. 

William A. Stocking, Jr., B.S.A., Farm Superintendent and Instructor 
in Agriculture. 

Robert Dallas, Instructor in Poultry Culture. 

Charles E. Myers, Instructor in Farm Accounts and Business Methods. 

Thomas D. Knowles, Instructor in English, Mathematics, History, and 
Physical Culture. 

Charles E. Myers, Secretary of the Faculty. 

Lucius P. Chamberlain, College Steward. 

STORRS AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 

[Officers same as Connecticut Agricultural College.] 

Station Staff. — W. O. Atwater, Director ; C. S. Phelps, Vice-Director and 
Agriculturist ; F. E. Singleton, Secretary ; A. P. Bryant, Chemist; J. F.Snell, 
Assistant Chemist; H L. Garrigus, Assistant Agriculturist. 

The Station is located at Mansfield (P. O. Storrs), as a department of the 
Connecticut Agricultural College. The chemical and other more abstract re- 
search is carried out at Wesleyan University, Middletown. 

HISTORY. 

At the time the Act of Congres.s of March 2, 1887, 
known as the " Hatch Act," was passed, which provides that 
^15,000 be appropriated annually to each State for agricultu- 
ral experiment stations, there was, in Connecticut, a station 
which had begun its work in Middletown, but had been trans- 
ferred to New Haven. The General Assembly of Connecti- 
cut, of 1887, provided that the appropriation to the State 
under the provision of the above act should be divided, one- 
half being placed in charge of the Board of Control of the 
State station at New Haven, and the other half in charge of 
the Storrs Agricultural School (now the Connecticut Agri- 
cultural College) in the town of Mansfield, for the purpose of 
establishing and maintaining an experiment station in con- 
nection with the school. In March, 1888, this fund became 
available and the Storrs Station was established, with Dr. W. 
O. Atwater, professor of chemistry in Wesleyan University, 
as director. The Wesleyan University again offered labora 
tory facilities for chemical and other research in Judd Hall 
3 



HANDBOOK OF CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURE. , r 

of^Science, where, in October, 1875, had been established the 
first State experiment station in this country, afterward re- 
moved to New Haven. 

The farm and farm appliances of the Agricultural School 
were placed at the disposal of the station for experimental 
purposes. Prof. C. S. Phelps, of the Agricultural School, was 
appointed as agriculturist of the station and vice-director, and 
was placed in charge of cooperative field and dairy experi- 
ments. Dr. H. W. Conn, professor of biology in Wesleyan 
University, undertook and has since carried out, on behalf of 
the station, investigations in dairy bacteriology. Mr. C. D. 
Woods, who had previously been associated with Prof. At- 
water at Wesleyan University, was the first chemist of the 
station, and continued in that position until he was called, 
in 1896, to be professor of agriculture in the University of 
Maine, and director of the Maine Experiment Station. 

The total annual income of the station is less than that of 
any other station in the country, with one exception. It 
consists chiefly of the $7,500 appropriated by Congress, and 
$1,800 appropriated by the State. Occasional gifts have 
been received from private sources for carrying on special in- 
vestigations. In addition to these, the station formerly co- 
operated with the U. S. Department of Labor in carrying out 
dietary studies, and now cooperates with the U. S. Depart- 
ment of Agriculture in its investigations on the food and nu- 
trition of man, and is thus enabled to increase its efficiency 
and usefulness. 

The trustees of the school to whom was entrusted the 
care of the fund appropriated by Congress have allowed the 
director. Prof. Atwater, to plan and carry out the work of the 
station according to his own judgment, qualified as he was as 
a successful pioneer in work of this kind. A portion of the 
work done has been in continuation and development of in- 
quiries begun by Prof. Atwater in the chemical laboratory at 
Wesleyan University before the Storrs station was estab- 
lished. Among these was a study of the fixation of free 



HANDBOOK OF CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURE. ,- 

nitrogen by leguminous plants. The work of the station in 
this line has done much to increase our knowledge of this 
important subject. Some of the investigations undertaken 
by the station in its early years were continued only a short 
time, while others have been continued year after year ever 
since they were first undertaken. The principal inquiries 
now in progress at the station have to do with the nutrition 
of plants, animals, and man, and with the bacteriology of the 
dairy. 

We are proud of what the Storrs Station with its limited 
income has accomj^lished in the thirteen years of its existence. 
It has continually recognized a fact that is coming more and 
more to be understood by its friends in Connecticut, that, 
after all, the inquiry which on the surface appears to be the 
least practical, is actually the most useful. The station, 
therefore, is endeavoring to contribute its share toward 
the discovery of the laws which govern right practice in 
agriculture. Here will be the most lasting benefit to accrue 
from its work. 

At the same time the direct application of the results of 
scientific research to farming is not forgotten. This is ac- 
complished, in a large measure, by cooperative experiments 
with practical farmers. Experiments of this nature relating 
to the feeding of sheep and dairy cattle, the use of commer- 
cial fertilizers, and of leguminous crops for green manuring, 
supplemented by investigations in similar directions carried 
out at the station, have done much to improve the practice 
of farmers in the State along the line in which they have 
been conducted. 

The investigations on dairy bacteriology have been an 
important factor in bringing about changes in the handling 
and care of milk and manufacture of dairy products that have 
resulted in raising the general grade of the products and giv- 
ing them a more uniform quality. 

The investigations on the food and nutrition of man are 
of particular importance to the farmer as a producer of food, 



HANDBOOK OF CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURE. -q 

and to the farmer and all other classes of people as consum- 
ers of food. These have resulted in iriving great aid to what 
is now a widespread movement for the betterment of public 
and private instruction regarding human physiology and hygi- 
ene, and for the application of the results of scientific research 
to the improvement of the dietaries of different classes of 
people. These results are being applied in the feeding of the 
army and navy, and in making up dietaries for public and 
private institutions where large numbers are fed. They are 
especially needed and useful for farmer's families. 

The particular feature of these nutrition investigations 
that is of the widest scientific interest is the inquiry carried 
on with the At water-Rosa respiration calorimeter, an appara- 
tus devised and elaborated at Wesleyan University in con- 
nection with the researches carried out in cooperation with 
the Storrs Station and the U. S. Department of Agriculture. 
Within this apparatus a man spends a number of days in 
active exercise or in complete rest, while the investigation is 
carried -on in such a way as to show the demands of the body 
for nutriment under different conditions of work and rest, the 
duties performed by the different nutrients of food in supply- 
ing the needs of the body, and the nutritive values of food 
materials and the alnount and proportions best adapted to the 
needs of people of different classes, with different occupations 
and in different conditions of life. 

The value of this kind of research is not confined to the 
nutrition of man, but is useful also in the investigations of the 
economic feeding of domestic animals. An apparatus similar 
to the one in use at the Storrs Station, but large enough for 
experiments with oxen, is being built at the Experiment 
Station at the State College in Pennsylvania. In Europe, 
appropriations have also been made for similar apparatus for 
domestic animals at the Institutes of Animal Physiology at 
Bonn and at Budapest. 

Our limited space will not allow a history of this move- 
ment, in which the Storrs Station has taken such an active 



HANDBOOK OF CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURE. 



41 



part, and which besides its scientific interest has also an im- 
mense practical value. Fuller details will be found in the 
Reports and Bulletins of the Station, and of the U. S. De- 
partment of Agriculture, with which it has cooperated. 

Connecticut may well rejoice that she has been the 
pioneer in this country in the establishment of experiment 
stations. Perhaps no other expenditure of public money can 
compare with this in permanent and increasing material 
benefit. Connecticut is fortunate in having two first-class 
stations managed by men bound together not only by ties of 
friendship and a common interest, but also by legal provision 
in|the organization of both stations, and with no rivalry except 
for the advancement of the common good. 

THE CATTLE INDUSTRY OF CONNECTICUT. 

Connecticut is noted for having developed some of the 
choicest cattle for beef, work, and dairy purposes of any of the 
States. According to the United States census of 1890 
Connecticut has a larger percentage of pure bred cattle than 
any other State. Such breeds as the Devons and Shorthorns 




COPPER QUEEN, 58,659 (JERSEY). 
Owned by Agricultural College. Record for one year 8,318 lbs. milk, 519 lbs. butter. 



HANDBOOK OF CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURE. .^ 

were prominent more than 60 years ago, and to-day choice 
herds of Jerseys, Guernseys, Ayrshires, and Holsteins are 
quite common. Town "strings" of cattle, many specimens 
of which were pure bred animals, were long a characteristic 
feature of all fairs. The rearing of cattle for work purposes 
was a profitable industry in the past century, and the fatten- 
ing of beef was a leading branch of agriculture before the 
competition of the West crowded out the business. But the 
breed of cattle which has doubtless given Connecticut her 
greatest fame, is the Jersey. Many of the best herds in the 




ALBERT, 44 (Ji.kM-:\ 1. 
Owned in 1867 by Silas W. Robbins, Wethersfield. 

country trace back to animals of our earliest importations. 
The name which stands foremost among the earlier importers 
of Jersey cattle is that of John A. Taintor, of Hartford, who 
began his importations in 185 1. During the next fifteen 
years such men as Colt, Beach, and Robbins may be named 
in connection with the importation of famous Jerseys. 
Greater care was doubtless exercised in the selection of this 
stock than in the choice of later imports after the "boom " in 
the breed began. Fancy points were wisely overlooked in 
the earlier selections, but merit in j^oint of production was 
always demanded. 

To-day Connecticut is preeminently a dairy state, ranking 



A. HANDBOOK OF CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURE. 

third among the states in the number of cows per square 
mile, and producing more than 10,000,000 pounds of butter 
per year. The natural conditions which tend to place Con- 
necticut in the foreground as a dairy state are her good 
grazing lands, a soil well adapted to the growth of grasses and 
corn, and a generous supply of pure water. These natural 
advantages, together with the adoption of modern dairy and 
creamery appliances, are causing Connecticut dairy products 
to rank among the highest in the markets of the East. 

Prof. C. S. Phelps, 

Connecticut Agricultural College. 




PANSY 6th, 38 (Jersey). 
Was owned in 1867 by Silas W. Robbins, Wethersfield. 

Pansy 6th (38) was out of imported Pansy (8) and Albert 
(44); was sired by Imported Jerry (15), and out of Frankie 
(17), both first prize animals on Island of Jersey in 1864. 
Pansy (8) was imported by John T. Norton in 1855, and I 
bought her and all her calves but one, buying his whole herd 
to get Pansy 6th. Without any extra feed she gave in flush 
twenty-four quarts of milk per day. Jerry and Frankie were 
imported by W. B. Dinsmore in 1865. I am sure no better 
animals ever left the Island of Jersey than Pansy (8) and 
Frankie. The pictures are very fine likenesses. 

Yours truly, S. W. ROBBINS. 



HANDBOOK OF CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURE. .r 

BREEDS OF CATTLE. 

In the early part of the last century our cattle represented 
all colors, and claimed no particular breed ; red, brindle, yel- 
low, and black predominating, though "white face " and "line 
back " were in every herd. Every man preferred the color 
in which chance had marked his best cow. They were 
the result of early importations from England, before im- 
proved breeds were established, mingled with Dutch stock 
from York State. There were many good milkers, consider- 
ing the conditions. They were expected to give milk in 
summer, and on the lush pasturage to lay in a store of fat 
for the cold and shortage of winter. 

Some sections became locally famous for special varieties. 
The red cattle of Connecticut were early noted as working 
oxen. Devons led as the first thoroughbreds introduced, and 
the names of Hurlburt, Blakesley, Lindsley, Hyde, and Bill 
recall the beautiful, sprightly Devons ; Sumner and Hitch- 
cock, the stately Shorthorns ; Gaylord, the white-faced Here- 
ford ; Norton, Taintor, and Beach, the mild-eyed Guernsey ; 
Pond and Wells, the spotted Ayrshires — motherly cows : Fish, 
the brown Swiss, majestic cows of a queenly type; while the 
breeders of Jerseys are too numerous even to select from — 
the cow for the pet of the family, and the pride of the butter 
dairy, but still inheriting as much of the native wildness 
as any other breeds, and last, but not least, has also too 
many patrons to list, the Holstein — the largest milk pro- 
ducer of all, handsomely marked with black and white, and 
of royal aspect, which, once seen, no one will dispute her 
claim as a milker. 

These are the foundation stock from which our cattle 
have been bred, each having qualities that give them pre- 
eminence for particular uses and conditions. 

ridctESIDe farm ayrshires. 

The Ayrshire herd of S. M. Wells of Wethersfield, Conn., 
was established in 1864-65 by selections from the herds of 



46 



HANDBOOK OF CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURE. 



H. H. Peters and William Birnie of Massachusetts, and Wal- 
cott & Campbell of New York. 

In order to secure the best, from $400 to $750 each was 
paid for foundation stock. 

Great care has been taken in selecting sires from cows 
representing the highest type of the breed. Of late years 




AYRSHIRE BULL. 
Owned by S. M. Wells, Ridgeside Farm, Wethersfield, Conn. 

bulls for this purpose have been secured from leading herds 
in Canada. 

The increase of this herd has been distributed from Maine 
to Mexico and nearly all the intermediate States, also con- 
signments have been made to customers in Cuba and Japan, 
such notable cows as Mysie 2d, with a record of over twelve 
thousand pounds of milk per year for three successive years, 
and twenty-one pounds of butter in one week. Dolly ^d 



HANDBOOK OF CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURE. 

47 

gave ten thousand pounds a year for three successive years. 
Both bred in this herd. 

The past season mature cows have given from seven 
thousand to eleven thousand five hundred pounds of milk ; 
two-year-old heifers, with first calf, fift3'-three hundred to 
seventy-four hundred and seventy-five pounds each. 

This herd supplies the celebrated "Hygeia Milk," which 
sells in Hartford and vicinity for ten cents per quart. 

The illustration shows the present head of the Ridgeside 
herd, Glencairn of Ridgeside, a grand individual of the 
choicest breeding. He is sired by the noted Glencairn 3d, 
imported and out of White Floss, she having won first prize 
m her class at the World's Fair, Chicago, and has received 
first honors at many of the leading exhibitions in the United 
States and Canada. 

The young females in the herd plainly indicate that the 
present line of breeding will maintain the high character of 
this distinguished herd of Ayrshires. 

BROWX SWISS CATTLK. 

Bi'ozuii Swiss Catllc. — The size, large and substantial 
form, firm and elegantly proportioned, color shades from dark 
to light brown, light- shade of hair between the horns, on in- 
side of ears, and a narrow line along the back. Horns rather 
short, waxy and black tips. Nose black, with mealy colored 
band around mouth. Black switch, hoofs, and tongue, 
straight hind legs, wide thighs, heavy quarters. 

These cattle, first imported by Henry M. Clark, some 
years since, and a number of small bunches since by several 
parties. They cross well with other breeds, producing a very 
desirable grade of cattle, and as a rule taking strongly to the 
Swiss. Brown Swiss, hardy, active, gentle, docile, and kind. 
Large milkers, yielding rich milk, suitable for the manufac- 
ture of butter and cheese. Making large veal calves and 
meat of best quality, and producing the best of working oxen. 
The highest official world's record in a dairy test for a cow. 




^1 m^^.^^ 



BROWN SWISS BULL. 




MUOTTA (Brown Swiss). 
Owned by N. S. Fish, Groton, Conn. 



HANDBOOK OF CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURE. 

49 

away from home, is that of brown Swiss cow Brienze, No. 
1 68, at Chicago, November, 1891, taken by ofificials of IlHnois 
University. The record as follows : Total for three days, 
245 pounds milk; butter fat, 9.32; butter, 80 percent, fat; 
pounds, 11.66. Average, 81.7 milk ; 3. 11 butter fat ; butter, 
3.89; best day, 3.25 pounds butter fat, persistent milkers. 

N. S. Fish, Groton, 
Sec. and Trcas. Swiss Cattle Breeders' Ass'rt. 

Weirvaloi Farm, Woodstock, Windham Co. 
We have but little pure-bred stock of any kind in the 
county, — more on my farm, I judge, than any other three, as 
I have twenty-seven head of registered Jersey cattle. " Head- 
light Koffee " at the head of the herd, no bull of better pedi- 
gree in New England ; forty-four head of pure Webb and 
Walsingham South Down sheep ; two thoroughbred mares ; 
four mares standard-bred on dam's side and thoroughbred on 
the sire's, and a pure-bred Cleveland bay stallion of imported 
stock, Vermont raising. Very truly yours, 

Geo. Austin Bowen. 

GUERNSEYS. 

The great and deserved popularity of Guernseys, won by 
their achievement.s- in numerous dairies, show rings, and com- 
petitive tests with other breeds, is now so well established 
that this breed requires no further introduction to breeders 
and dairymen. The prominence they have attained arouses 
interest in the history of the first importation of Guernseys 
into Connecticut ; for, although they had been previously in- 
troduced and bred in Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, and New 
Jersey, the rapid growth and dissemination of the breed dates 
from this importation. 

The Farmington creamery of Farmington, Conn., was 
founded in 1870. Shortly after it began active operations, 
Mr. Edward Norton endeavored to arouse the patrons of this 
creamery to improve their stock. This led to the formation 
of a local club at Farmington. Numerous meetings were held 
4 



-Q HANDBOOK OF CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURE. 

to discuss the improvement of stock and allied interests af- 
fecting the success of the creamery. Mr. Norton advocated 
the introduction of Guernsey stock. 

Mr, John T. Norton, the father of Edward Norton, had 
long been interested in Jersey and Alderney cattle, ha\'ing 
made . several importations of these animals. Through the 
agency of Mr. John A. Taintor one of these importations in- 
cluded a cow possessing marked Guernsey characteristics, 
which tradition asserts to have been the best cow ever owned 
by John T. Norton. The presence of such a cow in these 
importations is not surprising. In fact, a strong suspicion 
prevailed with Mr. Norton and his friends that the early im- 
portations of Jerseys, which had been introduced as Alder- 
neys, contained mixtures of Jersey and Guernsey blood. 
Some corroboration of this suspicion is suggested by many 
of the color descriptions of the early imported Jerseys, as re- 
corded in Vol. I of the register of the A. J. C. C. It has 
even been stated that eleven of the twelve Alderneys (Jer- 
seys) first imported by Mr. Taintor had white switches. Mr. 
Norton also felt that the larger frames and bodies of the 
Guernseys would commend them more to farmers than Jer- 
seys, against which breed a great prejudice e.xisted because 
of their size. At that time, when beef was an item of much 
more importance than now, this argument was correspond- 
ingly more impressive. Moreover, the richness in color and 
yield of milk and milk temperament were factors of no small 
importance. The causes thus stated, in connection with the 
fact that Mr. Norton had previously visited the Island of 
Guernsey, indicate, to a certain extent, why he espoused 
Guernseys. Mr. Norton's counsel finally prevailed, and cer- 
tain members of the club subscribed a fund for the purchase 
of some animals. 

Mr. Mason C. Weld was sent to the island to secure the 
animals. Fourteen females and one male were selected by 
him, which arrived in Farmington April i8, 1876. Upon 
their arrival the animals were led through the main street of 






i, 


JAf. 


^^ 


u^Kv' 


^* 


^Bk -4 % 


' ' > '^'^ 


SJ *OWk 


''^flmK'* 


Iti^Wj: 


^^iiJsE.'*'" :■- 



-^ HANDBOOK OF CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURE. 

the town and created great interest and much enthusiasm. 
They were duly appraised and the choice of selection was 
auctioned to those who had subscribed to the purchase pool. 
That the competition was keen can be inferred from the fact 
that eighty dollars premium was paid for the first choice. 
The ])remiums obtained from the auction of choice was 
divided and distributed pro rata to the subscribers of the 
purchase fund. The animals were sold to the following peo- 
ple : Edward Norton, Augustus Ward, William M. Wads- 
worth, J. H. Andrews, Charles J. Thompson, Charles W. 
Lewis, E. W. Tillotson, George N. Whiting, Chauncy Dem- 
ing, H. W. Barbour, and Miss Sarah Porter, all of Farming- 
ton, and Charles M. Beach of Hartford. 

The interest and activity in Guernsey breeding received a 
tremendous impetus from this importation, which largely in- 
fluenced the organization of the A. G. C. C, which occurred 
February 7, 1877. The direct effect of this importation upon 
the organization of this club is perhaps best measured by the 
fact that in 1878 the club had a membership of thirty-seven, 
twelve of whom were residents of Connecticut; no other 
State had such a large representation. 

Such, in brief, is the history of the first importation of 
Guernseys into Connecticut. No one can measure the vast 
benefits which have accrued to the dairy and breeding inter- 
ests of our country from this well-conceived and successfully- 
conducted enterprise. It is rational to assume that such re- 
sults were bound to come some time or other, but this does 
not detract in the least from the honor due those interested 
in this work. Led by Edward Norton, they conceived the 
thought, carefully weighed the chances, and having developed 
the courage of their convictions, resolutely proceeded to the 
execution of their plans. Let us ever honor and esteem these 
worthy patrons of agricultiu'e. 

F. H. Stadtmueller. 
Elmwood, Conn., May 24, 1901. 



r . HANDBOOK OF CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURE. 

54 

DAIRY INTERESTS OF CONNECTICUT. 

J. B. Noble, Commissioner : R. O. Eaton, Deputy Commissioner. 

Dairying in Connecticut at the present time is one of the 
most important branches of our agricultural interests. In 
the western part of the State large herds of cows are kept 
and the milk shipped to New York city. In the eastern part 
many of the farmers are sending milk to Providence and Bos- 
ton. While the milk trade is an important part of our dairy- 
ing, the butter business is, on many accounts, of still more 
importance. There are fifty-six creameries in the State 
doing a good business. Some of them are quite large. They 
are making a first-class grade of butter, which finds a good 
market at quite a remunerative price. Quite a large amount 
of butter is still made in private dairies and much of it is of 
extra good quality. In the last fifty years the number of 
cows in Connecticut has increased from eighty-five thousand 
four hundred and sixty-one to nearly one hundred and fifty 
thousand, with an average value, at the present time, of 
$34.80 each. The increase in numbers does not represent 
nearly all the increase in the business, for better cows are 
now kept and more care and thought are given to breeding 
and feeding. The average milk production per cow has in- 
creased in the past forty years from two hundred and seventy 
gallons to four hundred and thirty gallons. The amount of 
butter made in the State has increased in the past fifty years 
from 6,498,1 19 pounds to 11,000,000 pounds. Dairymen in 
Connecticut are thoroughly alive to their business, intelligent 
and progressive men, and through their efforts much has been 
accomplished in bringing their business to a high and satis- 
factory standing. 

CONNECTICUT DAIKVMEN's ASSOCIATION. 

This association was incorporated in 1889 for the purpose 
of helping the dairy and all of its related interests. The an- 
nual meeting is held the third week in January, at Hartford, 
where prominent dairymen from different parts of the coun- 
try speak upon live questions connected with their business. 



56 



HANDBOOK OF CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURE. 



Officers of the association : Pres., H. F. Potter, Montowese ; 
vice-pres., F. H. Stadtmueller, Elmwood ; sec'y, George 
E. Manchester, East Winsted ; treas., B. C. Patterson, 
Torrington. 

The Connecticut Creamery Association lias also been a 
prominent help to the dairy interests of the State. Officers : 
Pres., John Thompson, Ellington; vice-pres., Hiram Carter, 
Plainville ; sec'y and treas., P'rank Avery, Wapping. 

The following figures show the business of a few of the 
large creameries of the State. Lebanon creamery received 
1,299,796 pounds of cream the past year and paid to its 
patrons $56,1 16.65 > Ellington, 775,621 pounds of cream, paid 
to its patrons $34,328. Wapping made, the last year, 193,- 
778 pounds of butter, paid to its patrons $42,994.99. Suf- 
field, 626,128 pounds of cream received, paid to its patrons 
$27,518.64. Granby creamery paid to its patrons last year 
$39,000. Canton paid to its patrons $23,799.80. 

The Jersey Cattle Breeders' Association has been 
an important factor in improving the dairy herds of Connect- 
icut. Its membership is taken from prominent importers 
and breeders of fine stock, whose individual records have 
been high as milk and butter j^roducers. S. C. Colt, presi- 
dent, Elmwood; R. A. Potter, secretary, Bristol; B. W. Col- 
lins, treasurer, Meriden. 

DAIRYIXC; I\ CONNECTICUT. 

]'ine Hill Farm Co.— Q. M. Beach, Proprietor ; C E. Beach and F. H. 
Stadtmueller, Managers, Elmwood, Conn. 

Dairying, although one of the oldest of all time-honored 
agricultural institutions of the State, has nevertheless expe- 
rienced as great, if not greater, changes and improvements 
within the past two decades than any other agricultural in- 
dustry. This progress was due to numerous factors, most of 
which, however, were merely incidental. Practically all the 
advance made was due to the following causes : 

First. Improvement of stock. 

Second. Co-operative dairying. 



HANDBOOK OF CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURE. ^q 

Third. Increase of population, which caused a transition 
from cheese and butter production to the sale of milk as a 
dietary. 

The introduction of specific dairy animals was practically 
commenced in 1850 by the importation of Jerseys by Mr. 
John A. Taintor of Hartford. Mr. Taintor's efforts were 
soon followed by others, and in turn these importations were 
followed by the introduction of other notable dairy breeds, to 
wit, Holsteins, Ayrshires, and Guernseys. The superiority 
of these dairy animals so commended itself that within a few 
years the whole State became permeated with the blood of 
their descendants, and Connecticut soon became a veritable 
Mecca of breeding stock. This prestige has ever since been 
maintained, and much of the foundation stock of full-blooded 
herds of other States has been derived from the breeders of 
our State. 

Associated or co-operative dairying was first attempted by 
Mr. Lewis M. Norton at Goshen, Conn., in about 18 10. Sub- 
sequent events justified Mr. Norton's ideas, but co-operative 
dairying was not successfully established until the last third 
of the nineteenth century. Following then, as it did, the in- 
troduction of specific dairy animals, the conditions for suc- 
cessful co-operative dairying were more propitious. The 
quality of the butter was very much improved, as evidenced 
by the increased sale value of the product of all co-operative 
creameries. 

The success of the pioneer associations gave a strong 
impetus to co-operative butter production, and creameries 
were rapidly erected, equipped, and put in active operation 
throughout the State. The zenith of this movement was 
attained at about 1890, since when, owing to various causes, 
the most prominent of which will be discussed later, co-oper- 
ative butter production has slightly declined. Numerous co- 
operative creameries are successfully operated to-day, while 
the competition resulting from them has stimulated private 
dairies to greater and better efforts. Despite this progress 



HANDBOOK OF CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURE. gj 

there is still ample opportunity within our borders for the 
successful operation of dairies devoted to the production of 
high-grade butter. 

In the meantime the purely industrial and commercial 
population had rapidly increased, and milk contractors of 
New York, Boston, and Providence sought some of their milk 
supply in this State. As the demand for milk increased, the 
interest in butter production subsided. In the midst of this 
transition the well-known record of Connecticut men to be in 
advance is being well sustained. The deductions of bacteri- 
ologists are being introduced as rapidly as the consumers of 
milk will approve and support, and the output of hygienic and 
sanitary milk is rapidly becoming established. 

In reference to the actual control of the hygienic quality 
of milk, credit must be accorded to a Connecticut dairy as 
occupying the most advanced position. The proprietor of 
one of our dairies conceived the benefits derivable from the 
daily bacteriological examination of milk produced to estab- 
lish the care and efficiency of the labor bestowed in its pro- 
duction. For this purpose a bacteriological laboratory was 
equipped at the farm and has now been operated nearly two 
years for the daily examination of milk. 

Our knowledge has been deficient regarding the relation 
of milk to the public health, but at the dawn of the twentieth 
century we are emerging from some of the fallacious tradi- 
tions which have attended milk production, and are just en- 
tering an era of greater possibilities and activities than was 
ever accorded our progenitors. 



62 



HANDBOOK OF CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURE. 



OFFICIAL DIRECTORY OF THE CONNECTICUT PATRONS OF 
HUSBANDRY, FOR J90I. 

OFFICERS OF CONNECTICUT STATE GRANGE. 

Master, B. C. Patterson, Torrington. 

Overseer, Iverson C. Fanton, Westport. 

Lecturer, Frank S. Hopson, Station 3, Bridgeport. 

Steward, J. B. Bliven, North Franklin. 

Asst. Steward, Robert W. Andrews, New Britain. 

Chaplain, Rev. C. H. Smith, Plymouth. 

Treasurer, Norman S. Platt, New Haven. 

Secretary, Henry E. Loomis, Glastonbury. 

Gate-Keeper, E. H. Wright, CHnton. 

Ceres, Miss Gertrude U. Bradley, Waterbury. 

Pomona, Mrs. Sabra M. Kelsey, Higganum. 

Flora, Mrs. Maude K. Wheeler, Storrs. 

Lady Steward, Mrs. Alice L. Potter, North Woodstock. 

Executive Committee. 

Orson S. Wood, EUington, Term Expires, 1902 

J. H. Hale, South Glastonbury, " " 1903 

H. F. Potter, New Haven, ' " 1904 

B. C. Patterson, ^.r t?/^£-/6', " " 1902 

H. E. Loomis, ex officio, " " 1902 

Finance Committee. 

H. C. Dunham, Middletown. R. R. Wolcott, Wethersfield. 

George A. Hopson, East Wallingford. 

The evolution of Connecticut agriculture during 
the first half of the last century was at a limping gait, but 
with the outbreak of the Civil War it progressed with rapid 
strides. Necessity, the most potefitial of all the influences 
that impel men and nations forward in the march from the 
old to the new, gave to agriculture an impetus whose force 
is still unspent. 

Invention saw the fields waiting to be sown, and the har- 
vests ungathered, and gave us substitutes for able-bodied men 
in the form of farm machinery. Science, too, lent her aid, 
and by her development of new and more simple methods of 
culture, the agriculture of to-day has transferred its allegi- 
ance from muscle to brain. 

In such a tumult of change, such a casting off of theo- 
ries and methods, such an upheaval of long-laid foundations, 



HANDBOOK OF CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURE. 



63 



there is need of conservatism to steady the movement, and, 
fortunately, this element is not wanting. 

Agricultural education, now so generally diffused, is help- 
ing greatly to lift the burdens of former years, and to make 
the farm home attractive. New industries have crowded out 
the old, and our young men are beginning to realize the pos- 
sibilities of agriculture in Connecticut under the new regime. 
The allurements of the city are losing their fascination, and 
the professions are crowded to nearly their limit. Such a 
combination of influences are gradually working out the prob- 
lems of production and profit, and the new century is full of 
promise for the Connecticut farmer. 

The methods of the past demanding the severest and most 
constant toil are left behind, but they dictated and fostered 
a social, civil, and religious sturdiness of character that has 
made Connecticut the synonym of integrity, intelligence, and 
progress, and is to-day her guarantee of future prosperity. 
The depression of agriculture during the last few decades has 
dotted some sections of Connecticut with abandoned farms, 
greatly increased our forest area, and is chiefly responsible 
for the exodus of young men and young women from the 
home farm to some land of promise. The work of subjuga- 
tion must be renewed. These old hills must be brought back 
to cultivation and made again to teem with flocks and herds. 
This is our necessity, and therefore it is not prophecy. The 
farmer of the future, equipped with the appliances evolved by 
necessity, aided by invention, approved by science, and with 
the stimulus of an intelligent and steady purpose and a love 
for his profession, will surely be found fully equal to his task. 

Prof. I.. P. Chamberlain, 

Connecticut Agricultural College. 

CONNECTICUT POMOLOCilCAL SOCIh:TY. 

N. S. Piatt, President, New Haven ; H. C. C. Miles, Secretary, Milford ; 
Roswell A. Moore, Treasurer, Kensington. 

CONNECTICUT HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 

A. C. Sternberg, President, West Hartford ; L. H. Mead, Secretary, Ke- 
ney Park Nursery, Hartford ; W. \V. Hunt, Treasurer, Hartford. 



64 



HANDBOOK OF CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURE. 



FRUIT GROWING IN CONNECTICUT. 

The tender stone-fruits have been grown more or less in 
the State for a long time, but only in a small way. About 1 2 
years ago a few growers began to give special attention to 
peaches for market. They were successful. They organized 
a society for mutual benefit. This soon grew into the pres- 
ent very active and prominent State Pomological Society. 
This association has disseminated much valuable information. 
The result has been to develop the peach business into a very 
important industry. The Japan plum has also at the same 
time become one of the very important fruit crops of the state. 
These two fruits to-day occupy thousands of acres which, i 5 
years ago, were used for pasture or ordinary farm crops. 
Planting of both classes is still extensively done each year, 
the growers supplying the home market and reaching out for 
those still larger which are within easy shipping distance. 

With all small fruits the State is nearly fully supplied 
by growers living in each section where the fruit is marketed. 

Apples have always been largely grown, but with the gen- 
eral decay in other agricultural branches the apple orchard 
was also neglected, and as a natural result returned but little 
profit. The nearness to large markets and the profits in other 
fruits has again brought apple growing into notice. Old 
orchards are being renovated and cultivated, or are removed 
and new ones planted and attended according to the latest 
ideas of successful growers. Much land otherwise of little 
value is being devoted to this crop. Much more yet can be 
profitably employed in the same way. To aid in developing 
apple growing, the State Agricultural College has planted 
quite an extensive orchard of trial varieties, which is just 
coming into bearing. Last year it also planted a ten-acre or- 
chard for commercial purposes, with the idea of determining 
the cost and best methods of treatment. Several plans of 
inter-planting and filling are being tried, as well as the meth- 
ods of cultivation now deemed to be the best. It will be a 
valuable object-lesson in the near future. 



HANDBOOK OF CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURE. 



65 



The fruit-growers of the State have discovered that they 
are near the most valuable markets for their products in the 
United States ; also that the soil and climate are adapted to 
growing the finer varieties ; that it only needs attention to 
business to produce those that bring the highest price when 
marketed, and that there is ready sale for all that can be 
grown. 

A. G. GULLEY, 

Professor of Horticulture, Conn. Agricultural College. 
PEACHES. 

Commercial peach culture in Connecticut, although a com- 
paratively new industry, is now a leading feature of our agri- 
culture. 

From the earliest settlement, peaches have always been 
grown for home supply ; the first commercial orchard of any 
size was started in about 1875, more extensive orchards were 
planted in the early eighties, and the first heavy impress 
on the markets with Connecticut peaches was made in 1887 
and 1889. Large size, great beauty, and fine flavor opened 
the way for ready sale at high prices. Thousands of trees 
were planted in the next few years, so that by 1896 there 
were one million five hundred thousand trees in the orchards 
of Connecticut, and' now, five years later, there are over three 
millions. 

Hartford, New Haven, Middlesex, and Fairfield counties 
have the most trees in the order named, while Tolland, New 
London, Windham, and Litchfield follow with a less number. 
While a few townships in the* State have but little land suit- 
able for peaches, in nearly every township there are many 
hundreds of acres suitable to profitable peach culture. 

The earliest large plantings were mostly on elevated fields 
that had been used for mowing or tillage, but at this time, 
for the sake of elevation and suitable frost and air drainage, 
many acres of so-called abandoned farm lands on hillsides and 
hilltops are being cleared of brush and timber and planted to 
peaches ; lands that can be bought at from $10 to $20 per 
5 



4? 



1^ 



■'-,:%< 











jM- 



.■f ..^ 



HANDBOOK OF CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURE. 



67 



acre, when cleared and planted in peaches, in four or five 
years return profits of $200 to $300 per acre, and often twice 
as much. In the earlier plantings, medium to later varieties, 
such as Oldmixon, Late Crawford, Stump, etc., were planted 
so as to supply the markets after Delaware and New Jersey 
peaches were out of the way, but experience has shown that 
no matter what the season, Connecticut-grown peaches, by 
their superb size, beauty, and flavor, will drive all others out 




PEACH PACKING. J. H. HALE. 

of New England markets. So that, in recent years, early and 
medium varieties are being planted, and the fruiting season 
is now from July 15th to October loth. Most orchardists 
practice thinning the fruit, so that the trees are never allowed 
to overload. Marketing is mostly in i6-quart Jersey baskets, 
and from the present outlook the 1901 crop of Connecticut 
peaches will be upwards of three million baskets, worth at 
least $2,000,000 in the orchards. Careful investigation shows 
that for surety of crop, Connecticut is as reliable a peach- 
growing State as any in the Union. In the last twenty years 
it has had ten full crops of fruit, three fairly good ones, three 
partial ones, and four almost total failures. One of the fail- 



68 



HANDBOOK OF CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURE. 



ures was caused by a frost in May, when the trees were in 
bloom ; one b}' two weeks of warm, rainy weather at bloom- 
ing- time, and all others by extremes of frost, from 12 to 22 
below zero, that killed the dormant buds in winter. Six 
years out of eight the freezing was done between December 
22d and January 2d ; once it was done late in January and 
once again late in February. The older so-called peach-grow- 
ing States cannot show as good a record as this. 

J. II. Hale, South Glastonbury. 

Mr. Hale, the pioneer in peach culture, fears no competi- 
tion. When Connecticut is supplied, other markets are ready 
for our surplus. His Georgia peach orchard only prepares 
the way for the sale of the Connecticut crop, and he wel- 
comes every effort to extend this industry. 

GRAPE CULTURE. 

The beginning" of my grape culture was in 1856. Situa- 
tion for vines was on the southern slope of Mt. Carmel, near 
the base, where the soil is largely composed of the disinte- 
grated trap-rock which protrudes through the layers of the 
sandstone underlying the lower section of this locality. The 
varieties then known for culture were Isabella and Catawba. 
About ten years later the Concord and Clinton were planted 
in 1864. Being then a novice in grape culture, and wishing 
to give the experiment the best possible care, I employed a 
German vine-dresser and gave the care of the vineyard to 
him. The success in growing grapes was phenomenal, and 
proved beyond controversy that Connecticut is the home of 
the grape. 

My vineyards, cared for and planted by the old German 
vine-dresser, who had been a soldier in many wars, are still 
productive. They have endured the scourge of the black rot 
which has devastated so many vineyards, and though not al- 
ways escaping, have recovered from its ravages, and vines are 
still fruitful at an age of nearly forty years. 



70 



HANDBOOK OF CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURE. 



The vines planted by cuttings, without removal, in the 
sandstone rock broken up to a depth of two feet, are, as the 
old vine-dresser predicted at the j^lanting, now the most pro- 
ductive. Later, in 1890, I caused a new vineyard to be 
planted wholly by cuttings of the Concord, without fertiliza- 
tion, which have produced full crops of grapes during the past 
few years, and have been entirely free from rot, without hav- 
ing made use of any preventive on this special vineyard. 
At the planting the soil was worked, and continued to be for 
a few successive years. Later, as a test to avoid rot and les- 
sen the growth of the vine, no culture has been given. The 
amiiial pruning is all the outlay. The yield has been suffi- 
ciently large to insure success, and proves our soil and cli- 
mate is the home of the grape. If a forced large growth in- 
duces disease, curtailment of production may be the best 
remedy. 

The Green Mountain grape has also endured this severe 
test with perfect success, and fully ripened on full-bearing 
vines in a grass sod. My tribute of praise is due the Green 
Mountain grape as the best out-of-door graj^e in cultivation 
for a table grape, taking into account its early ripening and 
sweet flavor without any of the unpleasant after-taste caused 
by a surfeit. 

The wine-making qualities of the Concord and Clinton 
grapes, when mixed in the fermenting tanks, are of sufficient 
sweetness without sugar. Very truly yours, 

J. H. DiCKERMAN. 

Apples are grown successfully all over the State. The 
strong soil of the hills is best adapted for winter fruit in 
color, flavor, and long-keeping. 

Peaches, which had become almost extinct from the yel- 
lows, restored by the skill of a few cultivators, find a conge- 
nial location on the hills in the less elevated parts of the State. 
The quality of Connecticut peaches is unsurpassed, and the 
market is the best, for we are near the northern limit of sue- 



I 



HANDBOOK OF CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURE. 



71 



cessful peach culture. All the small fruits thrive well under 
proper care, and there is no doubt that fruit growing, intel- 
ligently conducted, will become the most profitable of all 
branches of husbandry. 



FLORICULTURE IN THE STATE. 

The real progress of a State or people can often be best 
measured by their wdse departure from the utilitarian idea. 
It is possible to reduce the wants and needs of daily life down 
to very narrow limits ; the people who have the lowest civili- 
zation exhibit the fewest desires with the most sordid life, 
while real progress can be measured by the expansion of 
healthy tastes and the desire for beautiful things. The moral 
worth of a nation is estimated by its decorative habits ; os- 
tentatious display of senseless, wasteful luxury marks the de- 




ROSE GARDEN. 
C. p. Lincoln, Wether.sfield Ave., Hartford, Conn. 



Conn. Monthly. 




CARNATIONS. 
Raised by Arthur Brandegee, Berlin. 



HANDBOOK OF CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURE. «^ 

cay of moral worth, while the culture of natural beauty is 
a sure demonstration of progress in all good and worthy life. 

The love and culture of flowers is the most natural of all 
our aesthetic tastes ; it enlarges the life by bringing it into 
sympathy with and knowledge of the laws that govern our 
proper development. No man or woman can properly care 
for a garden of flowers without learning much more than the 
way flowers grow ; they acquire also the secret of self-culture,, 
and so are brought into harmony with the essential laws upon 
which all progress depends. To comprehend the methods of 
Nature in any department of her work is to understand the 
principles upon which all her efforts are made. 

The last decade has shown wonderful advance upon all 
others in the florist's art in the State of Connecticut. Un- 
fortunately, no full statistics are available, but the amount of 
glass devoted to the culture of flowers has doubled, at the 
very least, the most recent figures showing about eight hun- 
dred thousand square feet given entirely to commercial pur- 
poses, and at this date there are at least one million, for every 
year an ever-increasing amount is built. No other business 
can show equal development, and when to this is added the 
many costly and beautiful private greenhouses that are found 
in every city, the enormous strides made in the State are 
apparent to all. 

The effect of this advance in the culture of beauty is 
everywhere apparent, and seen in two results : the increased 
value of property and the more attractive appearance of every 
town, village, and city in the State. Some of our villages 
and small towns are like parks or large gardens ; there is 
universal striving on the part of the people to adorn the 
grounds under their control with all possible beauty, and the 
old-time neglected, weedy dooryard that was an eyesore to the 
passer-by is seldom to be found. The people have discov- 
ered that no embellishment is so cheap or so effective as a 
garden rich with all the charms collected from the best flora 
of the earth, and brought within their reach by the skill and 



74 



HANDBOOK OF CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURE. 



enterprise of the professional florist ; and while the rich may 
have their jewels and picture galleries, the poor have equal 
loveliness within their reach through the modern develop- 
ment of the florist's art. 

And it is no disparagement to the professional florist to 
say that some of the most beautiful flowers are grown by the 
amateur. Nature is ready with her kind responses to all who 
take the trouble to seek her treasures, and many who grow 
flowers in the State solely for the joy they find in the recre- 
ation, accomplish as much in the revelation of beauty as those 
who give their lives to the work. 

It would be invidious to name but a few of the many suc- 
cessful florists, and impossible to name them all, but one may 
be mentioned who has, by great skill and industry, created 
the largest plant in New England — ■ Mr. Pierson of Crom- 
well ; any visitor will be more than repaid by a visit to his 
wholesale establishment, and see there how flowers are grown 
and packed for distribution to every part of the country, while 
on the other hand, the carnations pictured in this book were 
grown in a small house, and yet can vie with any raised any- 
where. They were grown by Mr. Arthur Brandegee of Ber- 
lin, who grows flowers only because he loves them, and are 
not surpassed in beauty by the product of any professional 
florist. 

To give some idea of the enormous magnitude of the 
business done by A. N. Pierson it may be stated that in the 
year 1900, of the staple flowers — roses, carnations, bunches 
■of lily of the valley, and violets — the sales reached about 
three millions. Of roses alone there were 1,154,012, and the 
cash returns exceeded $120,000. There are an average num- 
ber of one hundred and twenty-five men employed, and the 
amount paid for labor was about $56,000. The establishment 
is the main stay of Cromwell, and the generosity and good 
citizenship of Mr. Pierson is felt throughout the town, while 
the rapidity of the growth of the business proves not only 



76 



HANDBOOK OF CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURE. 



the intelligence of its founder, but the increasing love of 
flowers through the community. 

And we are only in the beginning. The era of universal 
barrenness and ugliness is past ; the new one of universal 
beauty is not yet here, but it is coming, and no class of men 
will do more to hasten its advent than those who grow flow- 
ers and place them within the reach of everybody. 

Rev. Magee Pratt, Hartford. 

THE NEW CANAAN NURSERY. 

STEPHEN HOYT's SONS. 

Established in 1848 by Stephen Hoyt of New Canaan 
and David C. Scofield of Mexico, N. Y. In 1853 Mr. Scofield 
sold out to his two sons, Lew'is and Rufus. In 1856 Mr. 
Hoyt bought out their interests and took in as partners his 
two sons, Edwin and James. Mr. Stephen Hoyt died in 
1879. The firm name was then changed to Stephen Hoyt's 
Sons. At first the business was confined to fruit trees and 
small fruits ; later enlarged to embrace also forest and 
ornamental trees, shrubs-, and ])lants. The farm now con- 
tains five hundred acres — over two hundred in nursery. 
Stone were abundant and the soil impoverished. The fields 
have been cleared, drained, and by judicious fertilization and 
culture the soil is very productive. The stock consists of 
forty head of neat cattle and eighteen horses ; men employed 
in the busy season one hundred, the rest of the year, fifty. 
This is the largest nursery in New England and is celebrated 
for the quality of the stock. The Green Mountain Grape, 
the earliest good grape, and the October purple plum are 
some of their introductions. They have an orchard of 
peaches of twenty acres and are preparing to plant apples on 
a large scale. Stephen, son of Edwin Hoyt, is also a member 
of the firm. 



«g HANDBOOK OF CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURE. 

SEED GROWING. 
S. D. WOODRUFF & SONS, ORANGE, CONN. 

Seed growers and dealers. Also dealers in agricultural implements, fertiliz- 
ers, etc. 

The seed-growing industry of New Haven county, Con- 
necticut, was established about 1825 by Benjamin Hodge of 
Derby, and Sherman Stone, who lived on the Derby Turn- 
pike in Orange. Mr. Stone had a seed garden of about eight 
acres, surrounded by a stone wall eight feet high ; part of this 
wall still remains in perfect condition. Dan Fenn of Milford 
was prominent in the seed trade fifty years ago. From the 
example of the above-named pioneers in seed growing there 
has sprung up a large number of farmers who make the pro- 
ducing of garden seeds of various kinds their chief money 
crop. Prominent among these is the well-known firm of S. 
D. Woodruff & Sons of Orange, Conn. This house was es- 
tablished in 1865 by Mr. S. D. Woodruff, who devoted his 
energy to producing special select stocks of seed for the 
wholesale seed dealers throughout the country. In 1891, the 
business having by this time become enlarged, Mr. Woodruff 
associated with himself his two sons, Frank C. Woodruff and 
Watson S. Woodruff, and the firm issued, in 1892, a retail 
seed catalogue. Each year since 1892 an issue in enlarged 
form has been mailed to thousands of customers in all parts 
of the country. These catalogues are ready each January, 
and are sent free to all who write for a copy. 

As the demand for all kinds of seeds has very greatly in- 
creased for the past few years, Messrs. Woodruff have in- 
creased the acreage of their plant until they now have four 
farms devoted to the culture of seeds. The business gives 
employment to twenty-five people all the year around. 
Prominent among the seeds produced by this firm are : car- 
rot, onion, parsnip, beet, turnip, tomato, squash, cucumber,, 
seed potatoes, onion sets, and sweet and field corn seeds. 
Attention is directed to a photograph, reproduced here, taken. 



•"»>-" '. '«s.-<asfla5*.saEa^ ,aift.i jiwiw..-"*" 








8o 



HANDBOOK OF CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURE. 



in August, 1899, of a ten-acre field of onion seed on the home 
farm of this firm. 

It is a well-known fact that more garden seeds and sweet 
corn are produced in the town of Orange and the adjacent 
towns of Milford and Woodbridge, Connecticut, than in any 
other section of the country. 

Milford, Conn. 
Seed gnnviiig recjuires not only great skill, but constant 
care and attention. No seed grower should be satisfied un- 
less he is improving his type of vegetables in quality, embrac- 
ing color, shape, size, and early maturity. He must con- 
stantly watch the development of his plants that he may be 
able to detect every variation. Climatic conditions are im- 
portant elements to be considered, and every detail of growth 
if one wishes to keep his stock up to the standard or make 
progress. Great care must be used to prevent mixture 
from prevailing winds carrying the pollen when the plants are 
in bloom, and thus working ruin upon varieties set in too 
close proximity. The seed business has kept fully abreast of 
the times ; many new and choice varieties are coming to the 

front. 

Everett B. Clark, 

For The E. B. Clark Co. 

MARKET GARDENING. 

We have obtained from Mr. Farnham, the largest small 
fruit and vegetable grower in the State, a list of his principal 
crops for 1900. He combines other branches of agriculture 
with his market gardening. He improves to the best advan- 
tage the opportunities of obtaining fertilizers from the city, 
and turns to profit the refuse from his market gardening. 

A. N. FARNHAM, NEW HAVEN, CONN. 

Grower of fruits, plants, and vegetables, Crescent Gardens, Westville. Breeder 
of high class swine, land and water fowl. New milch cows constantly on hand. 

We raised in, 1900 : 1.296 bushels Lima beans, 276 bushels dandelions, 
3,575 dozen bunches beets -1- bushels, 414 bushels string beans, 160,528 ears 
sweet corn, 4,206 dozens cucumbers, 8,367 citron melons, 6,536 watermelons. 



HANDBOOK OF CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURE gj 

4,000 lettuce, 2,187 bunches onions, 3,000 bushels onions, 400 bushels peppers, 
4.879 bushels potatoes, 1,500 dozen radish, 2,100 dozen squash, 680 bushels 
spinach, 49,292 quarts strawberries ; 7,792 baskets tomatoes, 3,890 quarts rasp- 
berries, 8,791 quarts blackberries, 1,091 bbls. kale, 10,388 lbs. grapes, 10,079 
quarts currants. 

The raising of onions and other vegetables for New York 
is conducted successfully in all the shore towns of Fairfield 
county. Seed is bred with very great care by these market- 
men, and their home-grown seed has often a pedigree of half 
a century on the same farm or neighborhood, and they would 
not use as a gift seed grown elsewhere. 

In proximity to all our cities small fruits and vegetables 
are raised for market in connection, generally, with milk sup- 
ply, but all over the State the home garden and orchard fur- 
nish to the professional man, as well as to the farmer and ar- 
tisan, luxuries and substantials of living, and in most families 
these labors instead of toil are recreation to all the household 
and make a threefold return for the time bestowed, in food, 
in health, and in change of employment, which is better than 
idleness, for rest. These family-kept gardens rival, in their 
products of fruits and flowers, those of the florists and pro- 
fessional gardeners, and of the suburban grounds where spe- 
cial gardeners are employed ; and though Connecticut is not 
all a garden, it is full of gardens, for soil and climate are 
kindly, and the nooks and corners of this little State furnish 
shelter and adaptation, and lend a charm to these artificial 
adornments. 

Wethersfield and vicinity for a century has been promi- 
nent in onion culture. Of late years, growing seed of onions 
and other vegetables has taken the place as a market product, 
and the reputation of Wethersfield seeds is not confined to 
Connecticut. 

THE TOBACCO CROP IN CONNECTICUT. 

Almost from the time of its settlement, tobacco has been 
raised in Connecticut. As early as 1640 its culture was 
favored by laws which restricted the use of tobacco to that 



32 HANDBOOK OF CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURE. 

grown within the colony, by a fine of five shillings for e\ery 
pound expended on the foreign-grown article. In 1662 a duty 
of two pence per pound was laid on all tobacco brought into 
Connecticut. 

Nearly a century later inspectors were appointed to see 
that only sound, merchantable leaf was exported from the 
colony. 

It is stated that at no time prior to 1800 did the annual 
production of the State exceed twenty thousand pounds. 

By 1840 it was a regular farm crop in the Connecticut 
Valley. It was not till 1845 that it was introduced into the 
Housatonic Valley. 

At first "shoestring" tobacco, a narrow-leaved variety, 
was raised. This was a heavy-bodied leaf and unsuited for 
wrappers. In 1833 Mr. B. P. Barber of East Windsor is said 
to have introduced from Maryland the broad-leaved variety, 
which was specially suited for cigar wrappers, and which is 
now chiefly raised in New England. 

At present two sorts are raised, — " Connecticut Broad- 
leaf," seen in its perfection east of the Connecticut River 
near Hartford, and " Connecticut Havana," which is raised 
much more commonly than the other, both in the Connecti- 
cut and Housatonic Valleys. Both varieties are thin, elastic, 
silky, having little flavor, and commanding higher prices than 
any other wrapper-leaf raised in the United States, excepting 
a comparatively small amount of Sumatra leaf raised in Gads- 
den Co., Florida. 

At present more than eight thousand acres are planted to 
tobacco in this State, yielding over two million pounds of 
cured tobacco leaf. The prices vary very greatly, and there 
is no other crop in which quality makes such radical differ- 
ences in market price. The very highest prices paid for any 
crops raised in 1900 were perhaps twenty-eight to thirty cents 
per pound in the bundle. Fifteen to eighteen cents per 
pound was about the average price. 

The onlv lands well suited to the crop are light, sandy 



HANDBOOK OF CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURE. 



83 



soils and sandy loams. Clay in the soil, whatever the system 
of fertilization or tillage, makes the leaf too dark and heavy 
for the present trade demands, nor can wrapper-leaf of good 
quality be grown within twenty miles of salt water. 

The available tobacco lands of the Connecticut Valley 
have been mapped by the Division of Soils of the U. S. De- 
partment of Agriculture, and we understand that a similar 
maj) of the Housatonic Valley is contemplated. 

Tobacco soils require very liberal fertilization, the cost for 
fertilizers alone ranging from fifty to eighty dollars an acre. 
Cotton-seed meal, castor pomace, tobacco stems, bone, cotton 
hull ashes, wood ashes, and sulphates of potash, with horse 
manure, are the materials most used. Muriates and large ap- 
plications of quickly decomposing animal matters seriously 
damage the burning quality and flavor of the leaf. 

The quality of leaf has been gradually improved during 
the last twenty years to meet the more exacting demands of 
the tobacco trade. In 1892 an association of tobacco grow- 
ers was formed — The Connecticut Tobacco Experiment Co. 
— which, in co-operation with the Connecticut Agricultural 
Experiment Station in New Haven, has been engaged ever 
since in experiments on the fertilization, curing, and ferment- 
ation of the wrapper-leaf. 

The results of this work are annually published in the 
Reports of the Agricultural Station and have commanded 
widespread attention. 

At present, experiments are in progress, in a considerable 
number of places, on the growth, in Connecticut, of Sumatra 
wrapper-leaf, under artificial screen and shade. The work of 
the Tobacco Co. and the Agricultural Station in 1900, co-op- 
erating with the Division of Soils of the U. S. Department of 
Agriculture, demonstrated that exceptionally fine leaf of this 
variety cou/d be grown in the State. The tests now in prog- 
ress will tend to show whether, at present prices, this can be 

done trf a profit. 

E. H. Jenkins, rii.D. 



84 



HANDBOOK OF CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURE. 



SHEEP INDUSTRY. 

In location and soil this State is peculiarly adapted to 
sheep raising. The uplands are rolling or hilly, and the val- 
leys well drained, so that almost the entire State, except 
where land is too valuable for other uses, is suitable for sheep 
grazing. 

While it may be said that no pasture is too good for a 
sheep, it is equally true that sheep will thrive on rough hillside 
or weedy pastures not well adapted for dairy or beef cattle. 

Not only is this State an ideal place for growing and keep- 
ing sheep, but nowhere else can the flockmaster get so quick 
and so adequate returns for his marketable products. The 
great woolen industries are in the Eastern States, and the 
wholesale wool dealers of Hartford pay the highest prices for 
wool, while the freight from any point in Connecticut is so 
small a percentage of the price as hardly to be appreciable. 

While the climate and pasturage are suitable for all breeds 
of sheep, the markets make a medium or coarse wool sheep 
most profitable. While the fleeces may not be quite so 
heavy, the wool brings a good price and the lambs and mut- 
ton find near by, in all parts of the State, the best of markets. 

It may be possible to put Western spring lamb into Con- 
necticut markets as good as even the mutton from a South 
Down sheep fattened on Connecticut hills, but an experience 
of many years would not warrant me in saying that it ever 
was done. 

As our butter and eggs bring a better price than Western 
products, because of our nearness to markets, and the fitness 
of our soil and surroundings enable us to produce these arti- 
cles and get them to the consumer in the best possible con- 
dition, so our lamb and mutton should and would, if properly 
marketed, bring not only more than the Western farmer gets, 
but more than the Western meat retails for in Eastern 
markets. 

With such advantages it may be considered remarkable 
that Connecticut has not more flockmasters. The manufact- 



HANDBOOK OF CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURE. 



85 



iiring villages that furnish us the best markets in the world 
unfortunately furnish many dogs that enjoy an occasional 
day's or night's outing, and within five miles of such a place 
sheep must have some protection. On some farms sheep 
may be pastured so near the farmhouse that at the sight of a 
dog they will run for the yard. 

As the State pays a bounty of $10 for the killing of a dog 
found worrying sheep, this plan adds rather than subtracts 
from the profits of sheep keeping. There are thousands of 
acres of land in Connecticut admirably adapted for sheep 
pasture that can be bought at a low price. Such land usually 
needs fencing, and at the present time a wire-netting fence is 
more economical than a rail fence. Such a fence should be 
high enough to keep in sheep and keep out dogs. No care- 
ful observer doubts but that the time is near at hand when 
thousands of acres of Connecticut land now lying idle will 
again be pastured, and in the reclaiming of these pastures 
there is no animal to be compared to the sheep. 

R. S. HiNMAN. 




OLD WOOLEN MILL Conn. Monthly. 

Of Gen. David Humphreys; built i8j6, Seymour, formerly Humphreysville. 



86 



HANDBOOK OF CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURE. 



The early settlers brought the common sheep of England 
with them. Britain had then many distinct breeds, but un- 
improved, producing coarse or medium wool well adapted to 
home manufacture, hardy and prolific. Black sheep or a dark 
brown were quite common and were favorites, as the wool 
needed no cc^loring. 

But a great change took place in iSo2 when Gen. David 




ANGORA GOATS. 
Owned by the late Hon. James A. Bill, Lyme. 

Humphreys of Derby imported two hundred Merino sheep 
from Spain. The laws of Spain did not allow the export of 
these sheep, but Gen. Humphreys, our minister to Spain, was 
permitted to bring with him a flock of these shee]D that 
wrought a greater revolution in agriculture in America and 
the world than any other incident in. history. 

Consul William Jarvis from Vermont in 1809 obtained 



HANDBOOK OF CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURE. 



87 



200 more, followed by larger importations by the thousands, 
by himself and others. Bred pure and improved by the At- 
woods and others of Litchfield county, and by the Vermont- 
ers, they have had a world-wide reputation, and in twenty-five 
years, by cross breeding, had obliterated our old stock of so- 
called natives. Later, importation of French Merinos by the 
late John A. Taintor of Hartford, and of the various breeds 
of English sheep, have given us some of the best stock of the 
world, and it is difficult to account for the lack of interest, the 
depression in this department of agriculture, the neglect of 
an animal so important in developing the natural resources of 
the State, but a revival will surely come, for as Mr. Chamber- 
lain says in his letter elsewhere, " this is not prophecy but a 
necessity." Gen. Humphreys was a native of Derby; gradu- 
ated at Yale, 1771 ; showed much literary talent ; served his 
country as a patriot and a soldier. " He also did much for 
the promotion of agriculture ; and just previous to his death, 
in 18 18, was making exertions to form a society for the pur- 
pose of procuring a farm for agricultural experiments." 

LARGE HAY CROPS, GROWN BY GEORGE M. CLARK, OF 
HIGGANUM, CONN. 

These cuts show a portion of an acre, which in 1887 pro- 
duced 12,245 pounds of dry hay first crop. This acre has 
produced more than six tons of dry hay, first crop, each year 








HAY FIELU. 
Geo. M. Clark, Higganum. 



88 



HANDBOOK OF CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURE. 



since that time. Seven-eighths of an acre adjoining has 
yielded 8y tons of dry hay at one seeding, two crops each 
year, in eleven years. This land, in 1886, was considered one 
of the worst worn sections in New England, and in fifteen 
months, by intense cultivation, care and less than, a quarter 
of an ounce to the square foot per year of bone, muriate 
of potash, and nitrate of soda, it has yielded, as above stated, 




HAY CROP 
Of Geo. M. Clark, Higganum. Over six tons of hay raised on an acre. 

more than six tons each year. There is much talk about the 
worn farms of New England, but if the land is intensely cul- 
tivated and properly cared for, it is one of the most produc- 
tive sections on this continent. I speak from a personal 
knowledge of the soil conditions. 

I have found it easy to make 350.00 per year, net cash 
profit, on an acre, growing grass. A great many others are 
making double and triple that amount on an acre by giving it 
more care. All that is required to make money on these 
worn farms, is correct cultivation, and proper care, seed- 
ing, etc. 

George M. Clark. 

Mr. Clark has kindly furnished this brief statement of his 
success in grass growing. The capacity of Connecticut soil 
in grass production, this foundation crop in all successful 
agriculture, has never been more thoroughly tested than in 



HANDBOOK OF CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURE. 



89 



this case. The tools of the Higganum Company have here 
had a trial of what they can do when rightly handled. Grass 
culture alone could justly fill this little book. 



President, 

Jonathan Trumbull, 

Norwich. 

Vice-President, 

Edwin S. Greeley, 

New Haven. 

Secretary, 

Charles G. Stone, 

Hartford. 




Treasurer, 

John C. Hollister, 

New Haven. 

Registrar, 

HOBART L. HOTCHKISS, 

New Haven. 

Historian, 

Joseph G.Woodward, 

Hartford. 



THE LEBANON WAR OFFICE. 

The Lebanon War Office was given to the Connecticut 
Society of Sons of the American- Revolution by its owner, 
Mrs. Bethiah H. Wattles, in 1891. The building was re- 
paired and restored by that Society, and dedicated June 15, 
1 90 1. It was the headquarters of the Council of Safety dur- 




Sons A m. Rev. 
WAR OFFICE GOV. JONATHAN TRUMBULL, LEBANON. 



HANDBOOK OF CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURE. 



91 



ing the entire period of the Revolution, and 1,145 meetings 
of the Council were held in the building. 

For further particulars regarding this historic landmark 
and its important history, reference may be had to a book 
published by the Connecticut Society, Sons of the American 
Revolution, entitled "The Lebanon War Office." 




GROTON MONUMENT. 



THE WADSWORTH ELM. 
The fact is well authenticated that it was at this tree, 
standing in front of the Wadsvvorth Athenaeum in Hartford, 
that Washington alighted on his way to Cambridge, June 



Q2 HANDBOOK OF CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURE. 

~9> ^775' to take command of the Continental Army. A 
bronze tablet has been placed upon the tree by the Connecti- 
cut Society of Sons of the American Revolution. This tab- 
let was unveiled on the 29th of June, 1893. See year book 
of the Society for 1895-6. 

PUTNAM PARK. 

This fine park at Redding, Conn., is kept by the State in 
commemoration of General Israel Putnam. It covers the en- 
tire camp of the forces under his command encamped in Red- 
ding during the winter of 1777-8. 

THE GROTON MONUMENT. 

As the inscription reads : " This Monument was erected 
under the patronage of the State of Connecticut, A. D. 1830, 
in memory of the Brave Patriots who fell in the massacre at 
Fort Griswold near this spot on the 6th of September, 1781." 
The monument stands on Groton Heights, opposite New 
London, Conn., and is about one hundred and fifty feet high. 
The story of the historic event it commemorates cannot be 
told within the present limits. It is fully described in various 
histories of the American Revolution, and described in detail 
in " The Battle of Groton Heights," edited by Charles Allyn 
of New London in 1882. 

THE NATHAN HALE SCHOOLHOUSE AT NEW LONDON. 

This building has recently been purchased by the Connec- 
ticut Society of Sons of the American Revolution, with the 
co-operation of the Daughters of the American Revolution, 
and is now being restored to its original condition and located 
on prominent public ground in New London. In this build- 
ing Nathan Hale taught school for more than a year, leaving 
his school to join the army, at the time of the Lexington 
alarm. After this short service he returned to New London, 
and in July, 1775, resigned his position as teacher and en- 
listed in the Continental Army, in the records of which his 
name stands as a shining example of self-sacrificing patri- 
otism. Connecticut is proud of this son of her soil, and his 



HANDBOOK OF CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURE. 



93 



memory is honored by the preservation of another school- 
house at East Haddam, where he taught before coming to 
New London. Several statues and other memorials also 
honor his memory within the State and elsewhere. 




Sons Am. Rev 
THE NATHAN HALE SCHOOLHOUSE, NEW LONDON, BEFORE REMOVAL. 

CONNECTICUT FORESTRY ASSOCIATION. 

E. V. Preston, President, Hartford ; Miss Mary Winslow, Secretary and 
Treasurer, Weatogue. 

Forestry in Connecticut demands more than a passing 
notice. Originally covered with magnificent forests of pine 
oak, chestnut, and other species in variety, the soil is so nat- 
ural to the growth of trees that they spring up everywhere if 
Nature is allowed to have her own way, and hence besides 
the memorial village and roadside trees that have been planted 
the landscape is everywhere dotted with trees of every vari- 
ety often rivaling in beauty the gems of a well-kept park. 
The elm and the hickory, the maple and the oak, attain their 
fullest development on our hillsides. The beauty thus added 



94 



HANDBOOK OF CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURE. 



to rural scenery now demands attention, and the value of tim- 
ber as a farm product is admitted as one means of utilizing 
lands unsuited to cultivation. Yale University and Connect- 
icut Agricultural College have, during the past year, added 
Forestry to their curriculum, and the U. S. Department of 
Agriculture has recently given attention to its demands for 
public consideration. 




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Conn. I\Io7ithly. 
SOLDIERS' MONUMENT, KENSINGTON. 
The first monument erected in the country to the Soldiers of the Civil War. 



HANDBOOK OF CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURE. 



95 




Tor. Print. Co. 
BIRTHPLACE OF JOHN BROWN, TORRINGTON, CONN. 

The Connecticut Experiment Station is also making prac- 
tical trials in tree culture, to report expenditure and re- 
sults. The time was never more propitious than at present 
for favoring an intelligent management of our forests, and we 
have high hopes that success will crown our efforts. 




QUEEN MARGARET'S ELM, SHARON. 



96 



HANDBOOK OF CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURE. 










<«Wl' 





ENTRANCE TO PUTNAM MEMORIAL PARK. 



Sons . I t)i. A'tT'. 



CONNECTICUT PARKS. 





/)'/-/>/, 


Report. 


ACRES. 


Seaside Park, 




127 


Beardsley Park, 






152 


Pembroke Park, 






6 


Washington Park, 






4 


Clinton Park, 






I 


Lafayette Park, 






•75 


Wood Park, 






• 50 




Grot on . 




Fort Griswold (National Park). 


H add a III * 




Meeting-house Park, 




2 


Field Park, 






12 



291.25 



Keney Park, 
Goodwin Park, 



Hartford. 



665 

200 



14 



* These parks were given to the people of Haddam, in 1880, in memory of 
Dr. David Dudley and Submit Dickinson Field, by their four sons, David Dudley, 
Stephen, Cyrus, and Henry M. Field. 



HANDBOOK OF CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURE. 



97 













ACRES. 


ACRES 


Elizabeth Park, ...... loo 




Pope Park, 










95.1 




Riverside Park, . 










7S 




Bushnell Park, . 










42 




Capitol Grounds, 










15 




Sigouvney Square, 










2.S5 




Camp Field, 










3.10 




Barnard Park, . 










1. 71 




Ancient Cemeter\-, 










1.06 




Tunnel Green, . 










•77 




Village Green, . 










.15 




Franklin Green, 










.14 




Buckingham Green, 










.20 




Lafayette Green, 










.06 




Maple Green, 










.06 




Washington Green, 










.04 








1,204. 






A/er 


■iden. 









Hubbard Park, 
City Park, 



Walnut Hill Park, 
Central Park, 
South Park, 
Smalley Park, 



Riverside Park, 
Memorial Park, 
Beach Park, 
7 



New Britain. 



Soo 



• 41 
•34 

•34 





AV«' 


Haven 




East Rock Park, 




350 


West Rock Park, 






200 


Beaver Pond Park, 






125 


Edgewood Park, 






109.69 


Fort Hale Park, 






49 


Waterside Park, 






18 


New Haven Green, 






16 


Bay View Park, 






16 


Fort Wooster Park, 






17.02 


Clinton Park, 






5 


Wooster Square, 






5 




New Lo7tdo)i 





806 



101.09 



910.71 



98 



HANDBOOK OF CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURE. 



ACRES. ACRES. 

Williams Park, . . . . . . 1.50 

Johnson Park, ...... .02 



13-5- 



JVor7tJzc/i. 

Chelsea Parade, ..... 2 

Laurel Hill Park. ..... i 

Little Plain, ...... .50 



3-50 



Putnam Memorial Park, .... 40 40 

// 'a/fi bury. 

Hamilton Park, . . ... 41 

Centre Square, ...... 2 

// 'illiiiUDitic. 

The Park (unnamed), ..... 10 



43 



Total for State, .... 3,423 2g 

List compiled by G. A. I'arker, Secretary New England Park Association, 
Hartford. 



In offering this tribute in tlic interests of Connecticut 
agriculture, I desire renewedly to express my thanks to 
all those who have by their contributions of illustrations 
and reading matter, enabled me to publish in the brief 
time allowed me even so short a sketch of the conditions 
in Connecticut affecting agricultin"e in the past and of 
promise in the future. Please notice that many of our 
illustrations are accredited to the Central New England 
Railway, and to the Connecticut Monthly Magazine. 

We regret that lack of space and time does not allow 
of accepting many other offers in answer to our requests. 

T. S. Gold, Secretary. 



§ 




WALTER HUBBARD, MERIDEN. 




CASTLK CRAIG TOWER, MERIDENT, LOOKING WEST. 



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^_^ JULY 73 

^^•i^ N. MANCHESTER 
INDIANA 



